Evidence-based orthopedic surgery: is it possible?

The promise of evidence-based medicine is to integrate the highest levels of clinical data with patient outcomes. After framing the question and identifying appropriate studies, evaluating their relevance to clinical practice is highly dependent on the instruments and measures selected to demonstrate outcomes. Currently, there are hundreds of outcomes measures available in the orthopedic literature evaluating these treatments, and it is not uncommon for different measures to produce conflicting results. Consequently, the ability to evaluate an outcomes measure is critical in determining the value of a specific treatment intervention. Similarly, selecting the appropriate outcomes measure for research or clinical purposes is an important decision that may have far reaching implications on reimbursement, surgeon reputation, and patient treatment success. Evidence-based orthopedic surgery is indeed possible, but demands a detailed understanding of why appropriate outcomes selection is important, the difference between clinician-based and patient-reported outcomes (PROs), and potential future directions in orthopedics outcomes research.